Yep, that does it for me. This fixes it as well. print *buffer wasn't at all interesting, however, print *buf gives: (gdb) print *buffer $1 = 105840660 (gdb) p *buf $2 = {header = {lheader = {implementation = 0x1655dc}, next = 0x601b60, uid = 5143, free = 0}, own_text = { beg = 0xef170000 "From: \"Thomas M. Thomas II\" <tom.thomas(a)mci.com&gt;\nSubject: RE: need help understanding ospf redistribution into RIP\nNewsgroups: comp.dcom.sys.cisco\nDate: 20 Jul 1998 09:59:48 -0600\nOrganization: Univer"..., gpt = 1074, z = 2337, bufz = 2337, gap_size = 6042, end_gap_size = 0, modiff = 282, save_modiff = 0, changes = 0x601b20}, text = 0x69b20c, pt = 159, bufpt = 159, begv = 1, bufbegv = 1, zv = 2337, bufzv = 2337, face_change = 503, changes = 0x601b00, markers = 0x4916f4, extent_info = 543169248, base_buffer = 0x0, indirect_children = -1608028156, local_var_flags = -3, modtime = 0, auto_save_modified = 0, auto_save_failure_time = -1, last_window_start = 1, name = 1613719976, filename = -1608028156, directory = 1613978840, backed_up = -1608028156, saved_size = 0, auto_save_file_name = -1608028156, read_only = -1608028132, mark = 541820132, local_var_alist = 1081538580, major_mode = -1605184836, mode_name = 1617022336, modeline_format = 1079608796, keymap = 540936320, abbrev_table = -2144701184, syntax_table = 545359872, mirror_syntax_table = 544026624, case_fold_search = -1608028132, tab_width = 8, fill_column = 70, left_margin = 0, auto_fill_function = -1608028156, downcase_table = 1613272436, upcase_table = 1613272448, case_canon_table = 1613272436, case_eqv_table = 1613272448, truncate_lines = -1608028156, ctl_arrow = -1607255628, selective_display = -1608028156, selective_display_ellipses = -1608028132, overwrite_mode = -1608028156, abbrev_mode = -1608028156, undo_list = -1608028132, dedicated_frame = -1608028156, file_format = -1608028156, point_marker = 541820156, point_before_scroll = -1608028156, file_truename = -1608028156, invisibility_spec = -1608028132, generated_modeline_string = 1613719952, modeline_extent_table = 541938368, line_number_cache = -1608028156} I had a look, but none of the versions back to 1.12 of that file crashed when compiled with -O, but they did with -O3. <sigh> Is there a gcc2.8.2 yet? Robert